iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 31/08/2026

The Demon of Dogwater Gulch is now available on DriveThruRPG: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5... Itch gives me the best cut of sales so I generally prefer people to purchase there, but I figure I might as well have it on all the major platforms in case people have a preference

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 02/08/2026

Hey! Glad you appreciate it, wasn't sure anyone was actually using it. It's not on Github, as it was basically fully vibe-coded by an older version of Claude, and I generally don't like putting my name on that kind of code.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 11/06/2026

When you set up your Creator Profile, you can set a "creator name" that doesn't have to be the same as your regular user profile's display name. Then, when you comment or leave reviews on products, there is a drop-down box that lets you select what name to post with.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 09/06/2026

They've been pretty receptive to feedback so far, often implementing suggestions within 24 hours. I recommend leaving feedback on their Discourse forum: support.rpg-trader.com

support.rpg-trader.com

RPG Trader Support

Documentation and support for RPG Trader

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 09/06/2026

Underrated feature of @rpg-trader.bsky.social: The built-in ability to separate your "personal" (buyer) profile and "creator" (seller) profile when using with the site. I can post comments as "Ben Torell", but I can also sell my products as "Gordian Blade" without having to make a second account.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 09/06/2026

Yep! You can split revenue for individual products: support.rpg-trader.com/t/collaborat...

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 09/06/2026

Revenue split between multiple collaborators on a single product is also pretty cool. And a zero tolerance policy on AI content is also very much appreciated. Bundling digital + Lulu POD is also something that beats both DTRPG and base Lulu.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 07/06/2026

Now that I can easily sell digital + Lulu copies, and now that @typst.app's pre-release version supports adding page bleed, I can finally start working on getting this module ready for print... 👀

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 07/06/2026

I'm pretty stoked to see @rpg-trader.bsky.social launching soon as a new #TTRPG storefront! I've always wanted a sales platform that allows me to sell digital files plus POD from Lulu. Great work @hlashbrooke.bsky.social! Give my #Lancer module a wishlist/recommend! rpg-trader.com/products/109...

rpg-trader.com

LANCER: The Demon of Dogwater Gulch on RPG Trader

A LANCER RPG one-shot adventure module for 3-5 pilots

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Reposted by Ben Torell

Lysus @lysus.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

It's the middle of February, so that means it's time for another edition of my newsletter, featuring a roundup of interesting OSR blog posts, a look at what I've been reading, and what video games and RPGs I've spent my time on this month. table46.bearblog.dev/the-46er-feb... #rpg #osr #nsr #posr

table46.bearblog.dev

The 46er - February 2026

It's been a great month for blogging! The Bloggies are in full swing, with voting about to begin. There's been many great posts - I've curated a selection of...

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 13/01/2026

Yeah, I've run it before and am very happy with the spins that I've put on things. The base adventure needs some work, but once you do that work it runs great

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 13/01/2026

Ypsilon 14 and Willowby Hall. Sticking to the classics that I know reasonably well to keep the number of variables to a minimum

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 13/01/2026

Looking forward to running Mothership and Shadowdark at Dice + Diversions in Atlanta in a couple of weeks! First time running games at a con so it should be a good time. My games are both sold out!

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 11/01/2026

My beautiful wife got me a variety pack of pens from JetPens for Christmas and I'm having fun playing with them today, drawing a familiar-looking map from memory. Pretty happy with how this turned out! Using a gray highlighter for shading is really fun.

A D&D-style dungeon map drawn on dot-grid paper surrounded by three different Japanese pens used to draw it.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 02/12/2025

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it seems like there's an underlying assumption that using OBS isn't "real" video production, whereas using a Tricaster is more "real" somehow. And yet, here we see a professional broadcast using OBS. Does that delegitimize the broadcast, or legitimize OBS?

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 02/12/2025

Counterpoint: isn't it cool that a sophisticated tool used by big broadcast production is as widely available to everyone, including Twitch streamers?

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 28/11/2025

My #Lancer #ttrpg one-shot adventure, The Demon of Dogwater Gulch, is on sale today for 50% as part of the Itch.io Creator Day sale! Check it out here for an all-time low price: gordianblade.itch.io/the-demon-of...

gordianblade.itch.io

LANCER: The Demon of Dogwater Gulch by Gordian Blade

A LANCER RPG one-shot adventure module for 3-5 pilots

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 12/10/2025

hundred dollar idea: gachapon machine that gives you new d&d characters

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 20/06/2025

Absolute cinema this morning with Telegram spammers

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 10/06/2025

Just uploaded a fun #ttrpg side project: Printable Trait and Role cards for FIST: Ultra by @claymorerpgs.bsky.social: gordianblade.itch.io/fist-ultra-p... These cards help my players make new characters in a snap, as easy as drawing 1 Role and 2 Trait cards and you're good to go!

gordianblade.itch.io

Printable Trait and Role Cards for FIST: Ultra by Gordian Blade

Printable cards for quick and easy FIST: Ultra character creation

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Reposted by Ben Torell

Billy Domineau 🇵🇸 @billydomineau.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Ugh I’m getting so many of these

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 21/04/2025

To be fair, I feel like a lot of pamphlet adventures treat the inside as a spread across all three panels, or a partial spread across two panels

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 11/04/2025

So uhhhhhhh anybody know a good wedding planner around Atlanta

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 17/03/2025

My vote: Stumpsville for Mausritter. The game has an evocative theme and pitch, a very quick teach, snappy chargen, and Stumpsville is a straightforward, quick adventure that hits all the high notes and leaves open the possibility of future play if people like it.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 17/03/2025

#TTRPG GMs: Suppose you had 2 hours to run an adventure for a group of mostly-new players. What system and adventure do you run?

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 14/03/2025

Man I hope we get a full-power starting XI on Sunday, that will be hype as hell

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 01/03/2025

Ok, doodling on a tablet is very fun...

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Reposted by Ben Torell

Dani Calzone @danicalzone.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Macrodata refinement #severance

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 28/02/2025

Haha, I'm not gonna turn my upse up at it. I have the Affinity suite for now, and plan to use DaVinci Resolve if I need to do more video work. I think the main thing I want to find is a good PDF editor.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 28/02/2025

I think I'm going to do it. I think I'm going to cancel my Adobe subscription.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 27/02/2025

#OSR #TTRPG Folks: What modules would you say nail both vibes (evocative, imaginative, inspiring) and usability (concise, well-structured, easy to reference)? I'll start: Valley of Flowers has immaculate tone and is packed with incredible ideas while being well-written and designed. S-tier module!

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 23/02/2025

Great video from @techconnectify.bsky.social about pushing back against algorithmic content curation. It's definitely been something I've bee feeling more strongly lately, moving back towards blogs and RSS instead of relying on big tech to do it all for me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJp...

youtube.com

Algorithms are breaking how we think

YouTube video by Technology Connections

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 23/02/2025

Took a look at SearXng but a lot of the public instances seem slow and incomplete. I'll try StartPage for a bit and see how that goes instead.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 20/02/2025

Look, I'm super in favor of de-Googling, and I've been using alternative search engines like Duck Duck Go and Brave through Firefox for a while, but... they are still not as good as Google as a search engine. Too many times I have to swap to Google to get a result the others won't give me.

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 19/02/2025

Hyped for the Liminal Horror Deluxe campaign -- such a great and easy go-to modern horror system.

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Reposted by Ben Torell

Goblin Archives @goblinarchives.itch.io · 16/02/2025

Liminal Horror Winter Giveaway Enter to win a bundle of LH goodies by March 2nd Multiple ways to enter: - follow: liminalhorrorrpg.com/deluxe - Bsky: Repost the Giveaway on bsky - Bsky: Quote repost the Giveaway on bsky - Substack: Follow the Goblin Archives Substack goblinarchives.substack.com

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 13/02/2025

I've been really impressed by the creativity exhibited by all the submissions! Love to see everything coming out of the community. I had a lot of fun writing and playtesting Dogwater Gulch and I hope people enjoy it!

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Reposted by Ben Torell

Tom Bloom @orbitaldropkick.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Checking out the lancer rpg one shot game jam, tons of cool stuff in here: itch.io/jam/lancer-o...

itch.io

Submissions to LANCER One-Shot Module Jam

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 10/02/2025

Amazing! Thanks so much for the detailed breakdown!

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 10/02/2025

These are awesome! What does your process usually look like when it comes to designing a cover for an author? I recently worked with an artist for the first time designing a cover for my module and wasn't really sure how to go about that process

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 04/02/2025

time to add elmo to the blocked word lists

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 04/02/2025

Dammit. I want to run an RPG campaign in the Android universe and I don't want to use Shadow of the Beanstalk/Genesys, so I'm nerd-sniping myself into writing a Cities Without Number + Stars Without Number mashup

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 30/01/2025

I'm really glad I took the time to learn good typography and layout lessons while writing The Demon of Dogwater Gulch. It has helped me in my day-to-day life, even at work, improving basically all my written communication. Information design is for more than RPGs and technical manuals!

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Ben Torell @bentorell.com · 29/01/2025

Some people suggest moving to a different blogging provider, like Blogger or bearblog, but it's not clear to me that they are necessarily any better? Are they the same as Substack, just not public about it? Does that matter? I don't know. I'm sidestepping it entirely by self-hosting.

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